The invention relates to a method for the hybrid-automated monitoring of production machines, in which production information, in particular with respect to the capacity utilization, with respect to the reliability and/or with respect to the availability of the production machine, can be generated.
Methods for generating such production information in which evaluation statuses are assigned to a production machine are conceivable. In this case, an operator of the production machine has to switch back and forth between the various evaluation statuses. Depending on which evaluation status the production machine is in, an amount of time which corresponds to the time period in which the production machine is in the evaluation status concerned is credited to a time account assigned to the evaluation status. At the end of a production cycle, the counter readings of the various time accounts can be inquired. The productivity of the production machine is then obtained as a quotient of the amount of the time account, which corresponds to the production status of the production machine, and the overall running time of the production machine.
In the case of such a method, it is disadvantageous that manual inputs of an operator of the production machine are required for the transition between various evaluation statuses. Such manual inputs are often forgotten or even intentionally incorrectly made to make the production result look better.
According to an adaptive procedure, it is also conceivable for the transitions between various evaluation statuses to be undertaken in accordance with events that are picked up on the production machine. Many production machines are provided with status lamps, which switch back and forth between xe2x80x9credxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cgreenxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cyellowxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cred+yellowxe2x80x9d, depending on the operating status of the production machine. It is consequently conceivable for an evaluation status of xe2x80x9cprocessingxe2x80x9d and another evaluation status of xe2x80x9cno processingxe2x80x9d to be established, operating times of the production machine then being credited to a time account assigned to the evaluation status of xe2x80x9cprocessingxe2x80x9d when the status lamp is in the xe2x80x9cgreenxe2x80x9d status. Times are credited to the other time account, for the evaluation status of xe2x80x9cno productionxe2x80x9d, when the status indicator is in the xe2x80x9credxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cyellowxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cred+yellowxe2x80x9d statuses.
In the case of this adaptive procedure, it is advantageous that the automated registering of events allows an operator-independent crediting of time periods to the time accounts to be performed. Incorrect inputs are ruled out in this case. However, in the case of such adaptive methods, it is disadvantageous that the production information obtained is very inaccurate.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a method for the hybrid-automated monitoring of production machines in which more accurate production information is obtained.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a method for operating a production machine in order to generate production information, which includes steps of:
setting up an evaluation status model having a plurality of evaluation statuses, each one of the plurality of the evaluation statuses having precisely one respective time account corresponding thereto;
setting up an interpretation status model having a plurality of statuses, transitions between the plurality of the statuses of the interpretation status model being established in accordance with events that can be picked up on the production machine;
assigning the plurality of the statuses of the interpretation status model to the plurality of the statuses of the evaluation status model; and
while operating the production machine, increasing the time account of an applicable one of the plurality of the evaluation statuses, which is applicable at a particular time, by an amount corresponding to a time period in which the production machine is in the applicable one of the plurality of the evaluation statuses.
The method according to the invention has the step of setting up an interpretation status model. In this case, transitions between statuses of the interpretation status model are established in accordance with the events which can be picked up on the production machine. Furthermore, the step of assigning statuses of the interpretation status model to statuses of the evaluation status model is provided.
Unlike in the case of the known methods, in the case of the inventive procedure, a particularly fine breakdown of the evaluation status model can be performed. It is possible for the time periods in which the production machine is in the evaluation status concerned to be assigned particularly accurately.
In this case, events which cannot be included in the assignment when only an evaluation status model is being used can also advantageously be picked up on the production machine and used for the assignment according to the invention. The inventive provision of an additional interpretation status model of the production machine advantageously allows these events to be used to assign time periods, in which the production machine is in certain statuses, accurately to the correct evaluation status. As a result, the accuracy of the generation of production information is improved considerably.
In an advantageous development of the invention, when setting up the interpretation status model, transitions between the statuses are established in accordance with the inputs made by an operator of the production machine. If such inputs are provided as events which correspond to transitions between statuses of the interpretation status model, the accuracy of the production information generated according to the invention can be increased considerably. This is because it is not possible in the case of many production machines for all of the statuses of the production machine to be established just on the basis of events that can be picked up in an automated manner on the production machine itself. For example, it is possible with additional inputs of an operator to distinguish between the operation of a production machine in a test phase and the operation of the same production machine in a production phase.
According to the invention, both operator inputs and events automatically picked up on the production machine are used for determining the operating status of the production machine applicable at a particular time. The operating status can be derived by using the operator inputs and the automatically picked-up events from the interpretation status model of the production machine and can be accurately assigned to a corresponding main status of the evaluation status model. The respectively applicable main status of the production machine is accordingly dependent on the type and sequence of the events of the production machine that have occurred and on their interpretation and prioritizing according to the main status of the interpretation status model.
The manual inputs of the operator can in this case be described by a status model and can be used as events of the interpretation status model. The manual inputs of the operator of the production machine can be performed on a keypad, on a terminal, on a standard keyboard or on a touch-sensitive screen or touchscreen and can picked up from there.
This allows a further increase in the accuracy of the generated production information to be achieved.
According to a further advantageous configuration of the invention, signals can be picked up from sensors, in particular from buffer sensors, from pressure sensors and from indexers of the production machine. These signals can be used as events in the interpretation status model in order to further improve the accuracy of the assignment of the time periods, in which the production machine is in certain operating statuses, to the correct evaluation status. In this case, the signals of the sensors can assume discrete statuses and can be described by a sensor status model.
According to the invention, the information generated from the statuses of the sensors is advantageously used to accurately assign the time periods in which the production machine is in certain statuses to the correct evaluation status. A particularly fine breakdown of the evaluation statuses is made possible in this way.
In a further embodiment of the invention, signals are picked up from the machine control, in particular the signal lamps, of the production machine for generating production information. In this way, the operating statuses of the machine control or of the signal lamps can be described by a status model or by a signal lamp status model. The statuses of the machine control or of the signal lamps can be used as events in the interpretation status model.
In the case of existing production machines, the signal lamps often serve exclusively for visually checking the operating status of the production machine in the production line. According to the invention, the information obtained from the statuses of the signal lamps is advantageously used to accurately assign the time period in which a production machine is in a certain status to the correct evaluation status. A particularly fine breakdown of the evaluation statuses is possible in this way.
In the case of a further embodiment of the invention, the evaluation statuses and the time accounts of the evaluation statuses of the production machine are registered in a computer system connected to the production machine. The registered evaluation statuses are stored in the computer system, such that the time sequence of the evaluation statuses are taken into account.
This stored production information can be used reliably and conveniently for evaluation purposes, for example, for any desired time correlations, for production machine correlations and for characteristic value calculations.
The status models of the individual data sources of the production machine can only provide qualified information on the production status of the production machine. To register the status of the production machine correctly and as completely as possible, a combination of data sources is used. Moreover, the invention supports parallel use of different data sources.
The signal lamps are particularly suitable for registering the production status of the production machine. However, these lamps often do not correspond to the statuses that are required for an evaluation according to the evaluation status model. Moreover, they do not provide information when the production machine is switched off.
According to the invention, the status model of the operator panel is defined as the main status model. This has the effect that the status of the machine is only determined by means of the electrical signals when the manual input on the keypad prescribes xe2x80x9coperationxe2x80x9d.
The invention allows a wide variety of machine components of production machines to be used for obtaining data. The invention permits production machines and machine components of production machines that conform to the xe2x80x9cSemiconductor Equipment and Materials International Equipment Communications Standard/Generic Equipment Modelxe2x80x9d Standard or the xe2x80x9cSECS/GMxe2x80x9d Standard to be used for obtaining data. The invention also allows machines or machine components with proprietary interfaces and production machines that have no interface to be used for obtaining data.
According to the invention, different connections can be established between the machine components of the production machines and the software for monitoring and analysis.
The parameters supported by the invention are: operating statuses; calculated performance parameters, such as xe2x80x9cOverall Equipment Effectivenessxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cOEExe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cMean Time Between Failurexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cMTBFxe2x80x9d; process parameters, such as pressure or temperature; product parameters, such as the device or the housing; and further influencing factors, such as the operator of the production machine or shift parameters.
The xe2x80x9cTFMxe2x80x9d software used provides a graphic instrument for modeling statuses which makes it possible for information to be presented in a way in which it is broken down between various data sources.
According to the invention, production information can be called up by the user in real time via the network, in the form of real-time graphics and summarizing reports. Likewise, production information can be exported into other systems.
According to the invention, data of any desired data sources can be brought together and interpreted in a freely configurable way. This allows individual production machines and entire production lines to be compared with one another, for example, to improve them on the basis of the xe2x80x9cGolden Toolxe2x80x9d principle.
Individual data sources can be assigned different priorities. For example, manual inputs can be given preference over automated data.
The production information generated according to the invention can be used for online monitoring and for offline reporting.
The technical implementation can take place by means of the xe2x80x9conline machine engineeringxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cOMExe2x80x9d software package and by means of the xe2x80x9cproduction status controlxe2x80x9d module or xe2x80x9cPSCxe2x80x9d module.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method for the hybrid-automated monitoring of production machines, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.